


Gold (You're Indestructible)

by misura



Category: Royal Blood | Gemfire
Genre: Fade to Black, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24770851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "You set my ransom athowmuch?"
Relationships: Ander/Terian (Gemfire)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Rare Male Slash Exchange 2020





	Gold (You're Indestructible)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Exile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/gifts).



"You set my ransom at _how_ much?" Ander asked. He'd been willing to make nice, to swallow his pride and pretend he didn't mind losing so much so long as it was Terian winning, but ...

Terian looked a bit surprised and also a little amused. Ander found neither emotion a reason to stop feeling annoyed. "Well, I didn't want them to collect it too quickly. It seemed a good opportunity to catch up, spend some time together. We haven't done that for a while, you know. I missed you."

"I miss you, too," Ander said, because it never hurt to admit to sentiment when doing so might gain you some advantage, "and yet you don't see me trying to beggar your family, do you?"

"What did you want me to do?" Terian asked in a tone he probably thought sounded reasonable. (It didn't, much, to Ander, though he might admit that he was a tough audience just now.)

_I wanted you to lose._ Ander swallowed. He'd known when he took to the field that Terian would be there, directing his troops as Ander would his.

He'd looked at his soldiers and he'd told himself that he was doing the right thing, that he would win today, and maybe even capture Terian and - _and what? Let him go because he's good in bed?_

"I would be both happy and honored to accept your oath of fealty," Terian said. His voice had softened. Ander wondered if Terian had guessed at his thoughts, and whether that idea should worry him. "You know that. I broke with Eselred because he was a terrible king."

_And look how far you have come._ Ander remembered Terian back when the Lankshires had nearly ruled all of Ishmeria, remembered turning to Jade and telling her, _I will make that man defect to our side within three months_ , not telling her what means he envisioned using to accomplish that goal, assuming Terian might prove amenable to such forms of persuasion.

(Tricky to say whether or not he'd been wrong: there'd been a few meetings, the development of a relationship of sorts, only then someone had told Eselred, or Eselred had gotten paranoid about one of his generals getting more popular than himself, and Terian had missed their next appointment, and Ander had told himself, _Let it go - you have other things to focus on, anyway._ )

"If our positions were the other way around, would you swear yourself to me?" Ander asked. He'd meant to sound light, flippant. A bit of a joke: of course Terian wouldn't.

That didn't mean Ander didn't want him to.

"Perhaps," Terian said. "It's rather academic at the moment, isn't it?"

"Indulge me," Ander invited. "We have plenty of time, after all, thanks to your outrageous demands for my release."

Terian rolled his eyes. "I already explained the reasoning behind your ransom. Why can't you take it as a sign that I'm both fond of your company and have a healthy respect for you as an opponent?"

"Somehow, being extorted does not make me feel either loved or respected."

"Would you like me to find you a dungeon and some bread and water?" Terian asked. "Because I do, in fact, have other things to do. If you really annoy me, I'll have them put you next to the elvish troubadour and you can listen to his latest hit song."

"Is it the one about the rowdy redheads from Rodale? Because I already know that one."

"Bold brunettes from Belgam." Terian grimaced. "Kind of catchy, to be honest, but then we caught him trying to slip something into the beer."

"Consider me reassured as to your respect for culture," Ander said. "As to your respect for _me_ , however - "

Terian grabbed him and pushed him against the nearest wall. Not hard, and Ander didn't for a moment doubt that any form of protest would have sufficed to make Terian back off.

Alas, protesting wasn't really the first thing that came to mind.

"Why do you have to be so Pastha-abandoned stubborn?" Terian snapped. "I don't want to fight you. We should be friends, allies."

_Lovers._ Well, Ander supposed that they were that, more or less. "I will concede that you would make a better king than Eselred," he said.

"A pig would make a better king than Eselred," Terian said.

Not for the first time, Ander wondered what had happened between Eselred and Terian. Now didn't seem a good time to pry, sadly and besides, in the great scheme of things, it hardly mattered anymore.

Terian would never go back to the Lankshires. That was all Ander needed to know.

"Are we talking about a magical flying one or one of the kind people turn into sausages? Because I think - "

Terian kissed him.

Ander lost his mind for a little bit. When he found it again, the rest of him seemed to have the situation well in hand - inasfar as any actions were required from his side.

They'd joked about it, sometimes, about who of them was trying to make the other defect this time around. It had felt like a bit of a game, then - serious enough, but mostly fun. Ander had never minded Terian not committing himself; he'd always left telling himself there would be another time.

He hadn't quite imagined it going anything like this. He liked to believe Terian hadn't, either.

"Let's just forget about the war for a while, what do you say?" Terian murmured. "A truce, if you will."

"Sorry, is there a war going on? I must have missed that."

"When I heard the Fachan had stopped your retreat by throwing a rock at you, for a moment, I thought my heart would stop," Terian said.

"It _was_ a pretty big rock. It's a miracle nobody got hurt." A fair number of his soldiers had, as a matter of fact, Ander recalled a little too late. His mistake, really: he should have waited for the end of Pluvius's three-month nap time.

"So let's end this. Here and now, you and me," Terian said, and Ander was a bit horrified to realize he felt the tiniest bit tempted. Mostly, he reassured himself, because next time, it might be Terian almost getting squashed or barbecued or what-have-you'd.

Surprisingly, wars were dangerous things to be involved in. Who could have known?

"I can't," Ander said, because saying anything else would be a lie, and he wanted to be (mostly) honest with Terian, who would make a fine vassal one day. (Or king, though Ander didn't want to think about that. The term _'over my dead body'_ might not quite apply, because if it came to that, Ander didn't think Terian would have the will to go that far. Still.)

Terian groaned. Ander decided to dare some kissing of his own, to get Terian back on track.

Happily, Terian seemed amenable to the idea.

"So which way to your bedroom?" Ander asked. "Assuming you abandoned the whole dungeon idea."

"I don't think having our love immortalized in song will do much for either your or mine reputation, no," Terian said, though he looked a bit thoughtful.

Some people, Ander decided, were entirely too pre-occupied with politics.


End file.
